Saturday, May 8, 2010

Moms of Twins Need 8 Arms (by Rachel)

Shocker... Growing up I watched a lot of Cardinal baseball at Busch Stadium with my dad. When I was pretty little, all I was interested in was the nachos, popcorn, and when Fred Bird would come our way. My dad tried really hard to get me to pay attention to the game and not the soda vendors and cotton candy guys. He always bought the scorecard and would keep track of all the stats, while encouraging me to do the same. Eventually I got better at paying attention and actually liked to take over on the on the scorecard (usually when he would go to the bathroom). I always liked when he would come back after a lot of cheering and ask, "What happened?" Usually I could explain, but I know he always relied on the INSTANT REPLAY so that he could see for himself what really happened...

Speaking of instant replays... Something happened the other day, and I've played it over and over and over again in my head. In fact, I'm blogging about it because I can''t get it out of my head and I'm hoping that writing it out will create one final instant replay.

I went to Chuck-E-Cheese last week with the kids. I knew Chuck-E-Cheese was not the best place for almost 9 month old babies, but I thought it might be fun for them to see all the crazy lights and all the busy toddlers running around. My friends have toddlers, so they were experienced Chuck-E-Cheese-ers. When we arrived, Micah and Mal were instantly mesmerized by all the glam. We sat and ate pizza and walked around watching the kids playing and going bananas. If there were a Chuck-E-Cheese scorecard, my dad would never be able to keep up. He would need instant replays of everything.

My friends are really good about helping me with the babies when we go out because they know the difficulty of having one baby and when they see me juggling two, I usually get lent some helping hands. So, towards the end of our adventure, thanks to Kandice, Mal and I were able to test the hot cherry red convertible. She looked sweet as pie sitting and playing with the steering wheel. Then, Kandice brought Micah over because we thought it would be SO cute if we could get a picture of the two of them in the car together. Seeing as how I only have two hands, I could almost predict that this was not a good idea. Side by side the kids sat playing and laughing. Then, as quick as an Ozzie Smith backflip, Micah leaned forward to grab at the speedometer. Of course, my only two hands instantly reached for Micah... leaving poor Mal... She lost her balance and crashed into the giant pretend metal key on the car. She smacked her head right above her eye as my only two hands instantly left Micah and went to Mal. Kandice grabbed Micah as Mal and I paced the area and checked out her injury. To me, it was BAD. She was bleeding. To me, it looked like it was gushing. It was swelling. To me, it looked like a massive lump. As directed by Kandice, I applied ice as much as Mal would allow and then drove home.

The entire drive home was one instant replay after another. Each replay was followed with the same thoughts... how did I allow this to happen? Why can't I have 8 hands? Mom's with twins DO NOT need to go to Chuck-E-Cheese without dads.

It turns out Mal was fine. I was not, but thankfully Mal was fine. She wanted to play and let her brother steal her toys as usual. She went down for her nap and slept like a baby. I checked on her breathing probably a million times.

That night when I had finally calmed down and the babies were in bed I realized this was the first of many accidents. So much is changing now and I know there will be more and probably a lot worse spills. But for now, the scorecard reads, Mal 1, Micah-0. Dad, don't ask, there will be no more instant replays. Go Cards!

Rachel, my heart goes out to you because, even though you know "that's why they call them accidents", still you're upset with yourself for not having those 8 hands. Although it usually doesn't really help when people tell you about mishaps they also had, it did help me when, after our 1st trip to the ER when Katie was 6 months old and had her first really good rolling over experience right off the counter head first onto the tile floor while I was turned around for a millisecond checking the bathtub water even though she was perpendicular to the edge of the counter and it just shouldn't have happened, (whew! take a breath), her pediatrician told me he literally watched as his baby dove from the baby walker head first onto an open drawer, and was still ok. As much as I felt bad for his baby, I honestly felt less guilty knowing even babies of pediatricians have accidents. As you can see, the "experience" still hasn't receded much even after 27 years, but, like you said, they survived many spills and also survived being a child of a mom with only 2 hands. I think it's great that you take them fun places, and I have complete confidence in your wonderful mommy skills!I also say, Go Cards! Although I wish they could share some of their wins with our poor Royals! Love Micah's hat!

Who's in the crew?

The Klugs are comprised of one husband (Billy), one wife (Rachel), two wonderful babies (Micah and Malorie) and one beagle (Tyson). All of the events depicted here are real, some are just exagerrated for dramatic/comedic/therapeutic purposes.